Advocacy Toolkit: Censorship and Banned Books

Parents, school officials, and politicians often have tried to get rid of books from schools and libraries. This practice, called book banning, is the taking of books and materials from a classroom or library, it more difficult for students to read these materials which frequently are important works of literature. This is censorship and it restricts intellectual freedom.

The First Amendment does not allow the government, including public school officials, to make books or ideas unavailable based on their content or viewpoint. Also, the government cannot decide to take books out of schools because they are controversial, unpopular or even offensive. We need your help to stop the government from taking books out of schools! This toolkit outlines more detail about this issue and provide action items for you if you take on the challenge to help!